Rhonda Bracey: At Random

Back in the day when I set up my Etsy store (about 2009?) there was a small processing fee for items sold and renewed. Fair enough. I just sold an item and took a look at the fees… it was an eye-opener!

The cost of the item as displayed in the Etsy store was AU$17, made up of AU$14 for the item and AU$3 for postage within Australia. Along the way, I’d paid 20 cents US (29 cents in AUD) each time the item ‘expired’ (every 4 months), which is ~AU$1.20 per year. I made this item perhaps 10 or so years ago, so it’s possible that I’ve paid well over US$10 in Etsy renewal fees for it (about AU$14 or more).

When the item sold today, I checked the financial information and found that a further AU$4.80 was deducted from the sale for Etsy’s ‘fees’ (see screenshot), many of which I’ve never even heard of (e.g. what are offsite ads??). That means that whatever money I ‘made’ on the sale, has effectively been eaten up in fees. Which means I’m giving my products away for nothing.

Added to that, I no longer sell to US purchasers because of the cost of dealing with the tariffs and the paperwork.

I think it’s time to close up shop.